“11:59” Summary The literary piece “11:59” was written by Patricia C. McKissack and discussed a story involving the character Lester Simmons. Lester Simmons was a retired Pullman porter who was outgoing and enjoyed to tell stories. He had a funny side, but Lester was also diligent and determined in everything he did. The story took place in the 1950’s beginning at Union Station and moving into Lester’s apartment. Within the exposition of the piece, Lester Simmons was explaining the legendary 11:59 Death train for train porters to the youthful porters on Compton Avenue. Throughout the story, he was dealing with the conflict of fighting death and avoiding boarding the 11:59 train. As the story progresses, Lester is forced to resolve his conflict, and the author provided hints of symbolism in the outcome of the selection. …show more content…
At the beginning of the story, Lester tells the story of how his companion Tip received his name; Tip once rounded up many tips on a ride, thus his nickname.
As the yarn was told, the young porters pointed out that Tip had boarded the nonliteral 11:59 Death train. After Lester left Union Station, he began to feel a sharp pain in his chest. Later on that night, Lester Simmons heard the whistle of the 11:59 train. If his story was in fact true, he had exactly twenty-four hours until his death would take its toll. Lester attempted to prevent his passing in a myriad of ways. He boarded up his house and cut off all electricity to appliances to prevent from shocking himself. Lester also refrained from eating and drinking in order to remove the chance of choking. The next day, he heard the sound of the whistle once again, a sign that his time was halting. At the climax of the story, Lester started to have a difficult time breathing, and his chest pain was increasing. He was beginning to feel the effects of the 11:59 Death train’s official
arrival. A specter appeared in Lester’s apartment dressed in the Porters’ blue uniform. The specter notified Lester that it was his time to say goodbye. Suddenly, he noticed that the specter standing before him was his old friend Tip. To resolve his conflict, Lester went forth with Tip to die and finally board the 11:59 train. Over the course of the story, the mood changed from being happy, to fearful, to content. The tone of the piece also changed twice from starting out as humorous and moving on to concerned and solemn. At the very end, porters investigate Lester’s apartment after he did not arrive at the shoeshine stand for two consecutive days. Lester was found by his friends with his watch stopped at 11:59 – the time of his death the few days before. The stopping of Lester’s watch at 11:59 is symbolic since the porters’ Death train is said to arrive at 11:59, and Lester lost his battle between himself and death. The event also relates to the title of the selection. The story “11:59” describes Lester Simmons’ fight between death and the symbolic meaning of Lester’s watch stopping at 11:59, directly relating to the Death train of Pullman porters.
In this poem, “On the Subway”, written by Sharon Olds brings two worlds into proximity. We will identify the contrast that develops both portraits in the poem and discuss the insights the narrator comes to because of the experience. The author refers to several literary techniques as tone, poetic devices, imagery, and organization. The poem talks about a historical view based on black and white skin. It positions the two worlds the point of view of a black skinned and a white skinned. The boy is described as having a casual cold look for a mugger and alert under the hooded lids. On the other hand, based on his appearance the white skinned person felt threatened by the black boy. She was frightened that he could take her coat, brief case, and
Brunvand, Jan Harold. The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends & Their Meanings. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981.
In “The Weekend,” George cheats on Lenore with Sarah, and she still chooses to stay with him and work out their issues. The story by Ann Beattie can relate to “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin because Edna cheats on Leonce with Robert and Alcee Arobin. After learning Edna cheats on him, Leonce decides to stay with Edna to work their relationship out. While nothing is wrong with their significant others, they cheat because something in them is unfulfilled. Lenore knows George cheats because he spends much of his time with the other women, but she never acknowledges it, until she talks with Julie one day; “she’s really the best friend I’ve ever had. We understand things—we don’t always have to talk about them. ‘Like her relationship with George,’
... treats Piney as her own child, and is moved with the couples love. After ten days of living in the cabin, she died from starvation. She requested to Oakhurst to give the rations she has been saving to Piney. He felt all them were already hopeless, so he ordered Tom to hike to Poker Flat and try to get some help. After a couple of days, when the help arrived in the cabin, the found two women huddled together, frozen to death, and close by Oakhurst was found with a gun near him, a bullet right through his heart, and a suicide note saying “Beneath this tree, Lies the body of John Oakhurst, who struck a streak of bad luck on the twenty third of November, 1850, and handed in his checks on the seventh of December, 1850.” (Harte 458). This story shows that people can change their life when they want to, and that anyone can develop feeling despite whatever they did before.
In “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds, the author contrasts two divergent people. Olds come to many conclusions as a result of the experience. Sharon Olds utilizes tone, poetic devices such as metaphor, and finally imagery.
In the novel Station Eleven the author Emily St. John Mandel uses characters and different situations throughout the book to show us how humans are able to resilience.
Lauren Alleyne uses the rigid form of the sonnet to navigate through the healing process after being sexually assaulted. Ten years after that night, she writes the sonnet sequence Eighteen, which deviates from the typical sonnet form in the aspects of the speaker, subject, and format. Playing off of the standard sonnet form, Alleyne is able to recount the emotions of that night during the first sonnet in the sequence. The typical sonnet tends to objectify the female body or one’s lover; in this sequence, the sonnets address what happens when an individual acts on these objectifications and assaults Alleyne. Alleyne deviates from the standard subject and speaker of the typical sonnet form to begin the healing process; the process begins
In this mysterious story “The Eleventh Hour” the story was about a fantastic party the animals go to but while they are playing someone and steals the grand feast. My initial pre-reading prediction for “the Eleventh Hour” was that there were lots of animals who went to a fancy dress party and a big mystery unfolds during the story. My pre- reading prediction was kind of right. When Horace turns 11he celebrates in a grand style by inviting his friends over for a spectacular party. As they were playing someone from the party secretly sneaks into the banquet hall and gobbles down all the food.
In life, everyone experiences a time of hardship, and for the most part, those affected find methods of overcoming the adversity. The idea of getting through hardship is best reflected in; Sherman J. Alexie’s story “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” (274). In the story, victor whose father had recently died from a heart attack has to travel to phoenix Arizona to reclaim his father’s ashes and his truck. Victor is joined by his former childhood friend “Thomas Builds-the-fire”, who finances the trip to phoenix since Victor did not have the means. They drove back truck from phoenix to the reservation. Throughout the trip, Thomas is always telling stories mostly reminiscing about their childhood. It is through Thomas stories that we learn much about Victor’s father. Through the use of symbolism, and character development, Alexie conveys the idea that, when someone is experiencing an adversity, reconnecting and embracing the past may lead to a discovery of a brighter future.
1 It was a cold March night in 1980 in China. There was only Tyler Day, TJ Paul, 2 and Lauren Day at the movie. It was late at night, when Tyler, TJ, and, Lauren were 3 leaving from the movies. They decided to play hide n seek after watching the movie 4 Friday The 13th. The three of them split up, and they all had night vision goggles so 5 they didn't hit any trees. Lauren volunteered as tribute to be it, but that was kinda 6 weird because she is never it first in any game they played with people.
Crichton, Michael. The Great Train Robbery. First Ballantine Books ed. N.p.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1975. Print.
While underground in Philadelphia’s subway, Ross repeatedly uses word correspondence to establish a narrative rhythm for the reader. Fran Ross critiques different commuters as they struggle to avoid the “irritation, humiliation, irrigation, and syncopation,” caused by the station’s leaky pipes. The vernacular is strongly based on tempo, rhyming and movement through the composition’s emphasis on movement. Furthermore, she stresses the consecutive repetition in the following sentence, stating, “According to the number of drops that fell on the traveler from the Leaky Pipes, he or she was irritated, humiliated or irrigated.” Not only does this establish a friendly narrative voice, it stresses what is at stake for the passengers on the subway. If they take a wrong step, the
Annie Filban was 12-years-old when her and her family moved into an old house in Wendell, North Carolina. Her parents found this house for a very reasonable price, but it wasn’t just because the house was old. It was soon discovered that her parents had purchased a home that was part of the Underground Railroad. Not only did it have a deep history, but also the last tenant had recently died in the home. So, her family moved into their new home.
The men in the subway cars make no effort to break through the barriers. They take no initiative to interact and stop the boys from the risky situation the put themselves in. The men seem to excuse themselves and the boys' actions by reminiscing their boyhood and all the brave adventures they had in their lives. Instead of ...
Short stories are temporary portals to another world; there is a plethora of knowledge to learn from the scenario, and lies on top of that knowledge are simple morals. Langston Hughes writes in “Thank You Ma’m” the timeline of a single night in a slum neighborhood of an anonymous city. This “timeline” tells of the unfolding generosities that begin when a teenage boy fails an attempted robbery of Mrs. Jones. An annoyed bachelor on a British train listens to three children their aunt converse rather obnoxiously in Saki’s tale, “The Storyteller”. After a failed story attempt, the bachelor tries his hand at storytelling and gives a wonderfully satisfying, inappropriate story. These stories are laden with humor, but have, like all other stories, an underlying theme. Both themes of these stories are “implied,” and provide an excellent stage to compare and contrast a story on.